Conversation about the Nature of Gravitational Forces and the Mechanism of Long-Range Interaction

Abstract

In his writings, Isaac Newton admitted that he could not explain the cause of the gravitational effect and the mechanism of the instantaneous action of gravitational forces between localized and remotely bodies. Newton introduced even the concept of "action-at-adistance", implying direct pairing without intermediaries in an empty universe. If the transfer of gravitational attraction occurred at a finite speed , as is customary in the field theory of short-range interaction, then due to the displacement of the planets relative to the original direction of attraction, appear additional force component along the velocity vector would. The retarded gravity of the Sun would cease to be strictly central and the planetary system would very quickly disintegrate due to the cyclic torque. Taking into account the known age of the solar system, Laplace at the beginning of the XIX century showed that the speed of propagation of gravitational forces should exceed the speed of light at least 7 000000 times [1]. In our time, this issue continues to worry the minds of scientists. Researchers of the nature of gravitational forces can be conditionally divided into two groups those who continue searching in the mainstream of the geometric approach that is the basis of general relativity and those who refuse to tie the gravitational field with the geometry of space-time. The field concept of gravity [2] makes it possible to describe gravitational interactions of bodies similarly to electric and magnetic interaction and does not contradict other experimentally grounded approaches in describing the phenomenon of gravitation and inertia, in particular, to certain models involving a quantum vacuum (dark matter). In this case, gravitational fields should have properties similar to, but not identical to, the properties of electromagnetic fields [3].